The Lunar Curse (The Ayla St. John Chronicles, #2)

by C. J. Pinard

  After a hot shower, I got dressed and blow-dried my long blonde hair and thought about cutting it all off, for the tenth time. But of course I never would. I put it up in a ponytail and threw on some makeup. I went back to the kitchen to make a shopping list. I had, like, no food in this house.

  Little did I know that small errand would change a lot of how I viewed the world.

  I looked around the large grocery store, a black basket over my arm. No, I wasn’t in the floral department, so why was I smelling lavender again? Remembering the conversation with my brother, I looked around until I spotted the only other person around me in the meat section. She was about my age, and the smell of lavender coming off her was strong. Realizing I had nothing to lose, I set my basket on the meat case next to her and decided to strike up a conversation.

  Smiling at her, I said, “Your perfume smells great. What is it?”

  Drawing her attention away from the case of meats, which she was almost drooling over, she looked at me. Her eyes were literally purple. Not blue, or bluish-gray, purple.

  “Oh, my God, you have gorgeous eyes,” I blurted out, when she fixed her gaze on me.

  Slipping her hand into the pocket of her jean shorts, she narrowed those otherworldly eyes at me and said, “Are you hitting on me? Because I don’t bat for your team, chickie.”

  Rude, much?

  Deciding to roll with it, I shrugged and said, “I bat for both teams, so I guess I was. Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to offend.”

  She softened a little at that and said, “Well, I’m not offended, but you come on a bit strong.”

  “Again, sorry. But really, what kind of perfume is that? My boyfriend would love it.”

  She chuckled, eyes now looking amused. “You have a boyfriend, but you’re hitting on a chick? Does he know?”

  I nodded. “Of course, he lets me bring women home.”

  Who am I right now? I had to bite back a laugh. Anything to keep her talking, I supposed.

  She seemed entertained by that and said, “Well, to answer your question, I don’t wear perfume, so you should probably try another line.”

  “Well, it has to be a scented lotion then,” I persisted.

  She shook her head. “No, my mom was allergic to any type of scent so I never wear any scented lotions or perfumes. It’s kind of a habit.”

  So I’m not going crazy, I thought.

  “Well, maybe it was someone else’s perfume I smelled. It had a hint of lavender in it, so I was wondering where I could get some.”

  Her head whipped up at my lavender comment, and she narrowed her eyes at me once again. “Lavender, you say?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. I love it.” Lie. I hated the smell of lavender as much as I hated eucalyptus.

  She opened her mouth as though she might say something, but then decided against it by snapping her jaw shut. Plucking up a package of frozen chicken breasts, she tossed it into her basket and said, “Well, enjoy the rest of your day.”

  I watched her walk off and memorized the way she looked. She had a very small build. Thin hips, small breasts, short spiky blonde pixie haircut, and a bit of a bounce in her step. There had to be a correlation between the purple eyes and the fact that lavender was a purple flower.

  I was gonna get to the bottom of this. And by get to the bottom, I meant by paying a visit to Sanja. If my theory was right, I just discovered another species of supernatural creature, and I needed to have it confirmed.

  Chapter 9

  Sipping my tea, I stared at Sanja over the rim of the mug. Her eyes were fixed on the big, old book in front of her. I watched as her finger traced along the words until her eyes widened momentarily, and she looked at me with a happy expression.

  I grinned a little and set the tea down, the anticipation killing me. “What?”

  “It says here that each supernatural creature has its own organic scent.”

  Cocking my head to the side, I said, “Yeah? So... that’s good, right? I’m not crazy?”

  She shook her head and put her attention back to the spell book, and began reading. “The lycanthrope have the keenest of smells.” She stopped and looked at me. “That’s what our ancestors called the wolves.”

  I resisted an eye roll, and instead put on a smile. “I know lycanthrope are werewolves. Go on.”

  The olive-tinted skin on her cheeks seemed to take on a blush, and she fixed me with a stare before looking back down at the book. “Their ability to detect other preternatural creatures is the sharpest of the otherworldly. So much so that each of the creatures will have a scent distinctive only to them. It seems as though these scents are very specific to each species. It has been reported to me that vampires will hold the strong scent of eucalyptus. Wolves will emit a strong citrus scent. The Elven, or the elves, will smell of lavender. And lastly, our brethren, the wiccans, witches, and warlocks will emit an overpowering scent of roses.” She paused and looked at me. “Seems appropriate if you ask me.”

  I was frozen. I had continually smelled those scents my whole life, but so much more since my seventeenth birthday when I had my first shift. I fixed my friend with a serious stare. “You always smells like roses. Like, always. I thought it was your lotion.”

  She looked back at me with amusement in her brown eyes. “I would never buy a rose-scented lotion or perfume. It reminds me old ladies.”

  “Me too, because my grandma always smelled like roses!” I gasped as my hand flew to my mouth. “Oh, my God.”

  Sanja chuckled and closed her spell book. “Yeah, because your mother’s—or your father’s—mother was most likely a witch.”

  “My mom’s mom. And, yeah, oh, my God. Wow...”

  “So at least you’re not imagining the smell. In fact,” she said, standing up and setting the spell book on her coffee table, “the scents should help you as a hunter.”

  Nodding absently, I stared into the fireplace, where a flame was burning softly. I murmured, “You’re right.”

  “More tea?” she asked on her way to the kitchen.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m good.” My thumbnail went into my mouth, but I grimaced, remembering the acrylic manicure I had on them and lowered my hand to my lap. I purposely kept them long and fancy so I wouldn’t be tempted to bite them down—a bad habit I’d had to kick as a young teen.

  “So what are Elven?”

  She opened the fridge and said, “They used to be, like, woodland creatures. Fairies, I guess? I don’t know much about them, or what they do, but I will look into it for you.”

  “Thanks.” Remembering something, I whipped my head around and looked at my friend. “Ya know, Beckett doesn’t smell like eucalyptus.”

  She laughed a lot harder than she should have, and after putting the teacups into the dishwasher, she dried her hands on a hand towel. She came back with two beers and set one in front of me. I smiled and lifted it in a toast to her before taking a swig.

  As she sat, she put hers on a coaster and then folded her hands in her lap. “It’s probably the gallon of cologne he wears.”

  I laughed. “You’re right.”

  “Still,” she said, “you should be able to smell it a little. It’s odd you don’t, but there’s probably a good reason for it.”

  I swallowed the beer and then set the bottle down. “Yeah? Like what?”

  Sanja lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “No idea. He could have a witch friend who did a masking spell. He was turned by a special vampire. There are a lot of reasons.”

  “Uh, I doubt he has or is either of those things,” I replied with my eyebrow arched. “And his cologne already smells pretty organic. Woodsy.”

  “Won’t do you any good unless you ask him,” she said, the beer paused at her lips.

  I cocked my head to the side. “Since when do you drink beer?”

  She swallowed a mouthful and said, “Since I became a college student.”

  I studied her honest brown eyes and laughed. She laughed right along with me until I said, �
��I guess that would drive anyone to drink.”

  “I’m going to be drinking more if I don’t pass this damn physics class. I don’t even understand why I need to take it.” She took a healthy swig of the ale and then set it down.

  “Required for Paranormal Studies?” I questioned.

  She nodded. “Unfortunately, but I’ll get through it. I have a good study partner.”

  “Well, college doesn’t make you smarter, it just helps you get ahead. Remember?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I remember. Just two more years, I keep reminding myself.”

  “You can do it,” I replied, lifting my beer and clinking it with hers.

  She took another swig and set it down. “So, what’s the latest in your love life?”

  I sighed as I ran my finger along the mouth of the beer bottle. “It’s complicated.”

  Sanja’s brows rose and she pierced me with a stern, motherly look. “This isn’t a Facebook relationship status. I want to know what’s really going on.”

  I chuckled at that and said, “I rarely see Ryder, and when I do, it’s like one night a week. I feel like we’re drifting apart, and it makes me sad.”

  “So... why don’t you rekindle it then?”

  I leaned back on the sofa cushion and blew out a breath. “How? I mean, he’s got this stupid weird work schedule, and I wouldn’t be lying if I said I should probably be flying solo at this point.”

  She looked at me for a few long, hard seconds, and said, “So, you want to be single now? Or... you have your eye on someone else?”

  A sly smile twisted up my lips and I replied, “I think you know the answer to that.”

  Her arms rested on her knees and she pierced me with a serious look. “No, I don’t. Why don’t you enlighten me?”

  “Come on, girl. Try to keep up. Ryder will always be my first love. But Kellan won’t leave my thoughts. I even ditched my friends to go hang out with him... but it didn’t work out.”

  Sanja popped up from the couch with a squeal. “What?!”

  Chuckling, I said, “Calm yourself, girl.”

  “Uh no, I will not calm myself. Tell me what happened,” she demanded as she eventually sat back down, her gaze never leaving me.

  I looked at her, and deciding to tell her the truth, I told her about how Kellan had beckoned me—tempted me—to leave Moon Chasers with him, and how things could have turned crazy had he not been summoned by his boss to report in.

  “The weird part was that at the time, I hadn’t known why he was being summoned. My blackout in the taco bar had told me that.”

  “So what happened during the blackout? Were you hurt?” she asked, intrigued.

  I shook my head. “No, just my pride, obviously. Fell clean off a high-barstool. So embarrassing.”

  She placed her hand on mine. “I’m sorry, girl.”

  I shrugged. “I better get used to it. It’s sadly getting easier to deal with.”

  “That’s not something you should have to get used to.” She frowned.

  “I know.”

  “So tell me what happened during the blackout,” she said, curious.

  “Oh, yeah.” I proceeded to tell her exactly what I’d seen. I didn’t leave out a detail, and I found it crazy how much I was able to remember. Like no fact was missing from my memory.

  Sanja’s beer paused at her lips and she arched an eyebrow at me. “So you’re telling me he ditched your... ‘date’ because he got summoned by the very vampire you’re hunting?”

  I nodded. “Un-freaking-believable, right?”

  “You can say that again. Geez.”

  Looking down at my beer bottle, I said, “I don’t know what to do. I should just tell him to fuck off, right?”

  She laughed. “Yeah, you should, but obviously you can’t. You need him to help you find Linden.”

  “Well, I’m glad you’re as smart as you are pretty.” I grinned, lifting my gaze to hers.

  “It’s not rocket science, Ayla. Let’s just hope he doesn’t catch on.”

  I blew out a breath. “Yeah, let’s hope. I need a plan now.”

  She smiled at me. “Yes, you do, and I have no doubt you’ll come up with one.”

  I was almost home when my phone lit up with a text.

  Aden: Holy shit.

  Confused, I waited until I hit a red light and opened the text, wondering what it meant. I realized as I read the thread that he was responding to my telling him to Google Alexander Von Brass.

  Another text from him came through.

  Aden: Well this just made it even easier to get to him.

  The light turned green and I hit the gas, resisting the urge to text and drive. The phone lit up again, but I waited until I was in the parking lot of my building to respond.

  Me: How do you figure? We already know where he lives, and his schedule.

  Aden: We ruin his life. His family. We drive him out of his home permanently so he has nowhere to go.

  I began to understand what he meant.

  Me: So we destroy his fake life?

  Aden: Exactly. Let’s smoke out this motherfucker.

  I smiled and threw my phone into my purse and got out of the car. The night was cold, but the stars and moon shone brightly, and I was in a good mood. I began to mentally tick off all I had to do tonight. I had training with the Grants at midnight at the gym, then I was going to practice some flying on my own from a few of the abandoned buildings downtown.

  Reaching into my purse for my phone to check the time, I suddenly froze when the sound of someone—something—sniffing the air caught my attention. I reached under my jacket and pulled out the Dagestan dagger from its sheath on my belt, holding my breath.

  The strong scent of eucalyptus hit me a split-second before I felt someone tackle me from behind. I fell flat on my face but flipped over quickly, just in time to see a pale, evil face jump on top of me. Unfortunately for this asshole, I hadn’t dropped the dagger.

  “So pretty,” he hissed into my face, his eyes nothing more than two pale irises that creeped me the hell out. He sniffed the air again.

  I smiled up at him, as little did he know I had the dagger aimed straight for his spine. “Sniff again, asshole. Go ahead, give me a whiff. Tell me what you smell.”

  Confused by my lack of fear, his brow furrowed as he realized my odd scent. “Wolf?”

  “Something like that,” I replied, shoving the dagger into his back and bucking my hips at the same time.

  The vampire screeched so loudly, I winced as I jumped up. He was now standing, trying to grab for the dagger, but unable to reach it due to where I’d plunged it in. I’d obviously missed his spine, as he was able to stand, so I ran around to the back and twirled once before kicking the blade in harder, eliciting another otherworldly screech from the creature. He fell to the ground, face-first. Taking my time, I walked over, pulled out the blade, and then straddled his back, jamming the bloody dagger into the base of his neck, hitting the brain stem. He screamed one last time before he began to disintegrate right before my eyes. I removed the knife, picked up my purse, and ran, shakily unlocking the building’s side door, where I then ran up the steps two at a time, until I reached my floor.

  Once I was inside my apartment with the door locked, I dropped my purse and keys and put my back against the wall. I slowly slid down, unable to do anything but pant for air and shake as I felt tears build along my lashes.

  Chapter 10

  I wasn’t sure how long I’d sat there, but I did look down at my phone, which was now sitting on the floor next to me, when it lit up with a text.

  Evan: We’ll be right there. Keep the door locked.

  Confused, I tilted my head and picked it up. I had somehow sent a text to Evan, but I didn’t remember doing so.

  Wiping my face with the back of my hand, I got up and deposited my purse onto the kitchen counter. I absently pulled a glass down from the cabinet and filled it with water from the kitchen faucet and drank it down in one gulp.

&
nbsp; Blowing out a breath, I set the glass down and went to the bank of windows that took up the western wall of my studio apartment. The city looked quiet, but I knew it wasn’t. It never was. Evil lurked in the dark shadows and around corners constantly, human and inhuman.

  My mind flashed with what had just happened no more than ten minutes ago. The vampire and his ugly pale face. His fangs inches from me. His look of horror when I’d driven the dagger into his back. My hand on the back of his head when I’d straddled him and drove the dagger into his neck.

  “Holy shit,” I breathed, shaking my head and wrapping my arms around myself to try to clear the memory.

  A knock at the door startled me and I slowly made my way to it. A glance through the peephole showed Evan and Karina. I disengaged the locks and let them in, looking both ways down the hallway before closing the door and throwing the deadbolt into place.

  “You okay?” Karina asked as I turned around and face my friends.

  Wrapping my arms around myself again, I nodded. “I think so.”

  She came closer to me as Evan watched in concern. “Let’s take off your jacket and shoes. You’re okay. Let’s relax.”

  I nodded and let her remove my jacket. “Now, go sit,” she said.

  Once I reached the sofa, I leaned down and began unlacing my boots. Content that I had it, they sat on the loveseat opposite of me and stared at me.

  “I’m okay, guys,” I said. “It was just so unexpected. So completely different than a planned attack where I’m in control.”

  Karina brushed away a stray red curl that had escaped her ponytail. “That’s the problem with vampires. They don’t give a warning.”

  I met her gaze and paused for a few long seconds. “Tell me something; how do you eat?”

  Her eyes widened momentarily, and then softened. “I knew you’d ask me that one day.”

  I didn’t respond to that, just sat and waited for a response.

  “Blood bags, mostly.”